Campaign Notebook

:
October 21, 2010

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Republican Francisco "Quico" Canseco released an internal poll Thursday that shows him with a slight lead over Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, filed a complaint charging his opponent with accepting illegal campaign contributions - a charge the Canseco campaign called a "fishing" expedition.

An internal poll of 400 likely voters in the congressional district, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based On Message Inc., found Canseco favored by 45.3 percent of those surveyed, compared with 39.3 percent for Rodriguez.

The poll - conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, with the results released Thursday - showed other candidates with 9.6 percent of the vote and 6 percent undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

"It's very clear that people are looking for different representation in Congress," said Scott Yeldell, a Canseco spokesman.

Cesar Blanco, Rodriguez's campaign manager, questioned the sampling of the poll. He said the congressman will vote with his constituents on issues.

The re-election opponent of state Rep. David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, filed a complaint with state election officials claiming Leibowitz isn't eligible to serve in District 117 because he doesn't live there - a charge the four-term Democrat vehemently denies.

In the "urgent" Oct. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hope Andrade, which cites a San Antonio Express-News investigative report that questioned Leibowitz's residency in the district, GOP candidate John V. Garza contended Leibowitz resides outside the district in the Dominion. To back up his claim, Garza submitted the Sept. 12 article and copies of some of the same documents it cited.

A spokesman for Andrade said resolving a dispute over a candidate's residency was a matter for the courts, not her office, so Garza's complaint may have no impact. With early voting under way, Garza doesn't plan to sue, and besides, courts rely heavily on a candidate's stated intent.

"I've lived in the district. I intend to live in the district. I not only live in the district in a real house but I have a contract to build a home in Helotes," Leibowitz said Thursday. "Where's the beef?"

Most political candidates promise to start a new program or policy on their first day in office, but Bill White has different plans if he's elected governor. The Democrat's first bold move would be into a mobile home.

In another jab at Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who's costing taxpayers $10,000 a month by renting a mansion outside Austin, White vowed during a swing through East Texas on Wednesday to move into a trailer if he wins the election. The millionaire businessman and former Houston mayor now lives in a 4,122-square-foot home appraised at $2.1 million, but said he'd be the portrait of frugality the moment he took office.

"It will start when I move, on the first day that I'm sworn into office, out of that fancy rental mansion into a double-wide trailer," White said. "Where I come from, fiscal conservatism means you don't waste money on yourself."